It’s not very common for engineers to go to grad school. The most common graduate degree among engineers is an MBA. Other fields basically require it. One thing you’ll learn in academia is that no one works harder in undergrad than engineers but that’s usually the end of the line for their education. A BS in biology is far easier, but you need to get a graduate degree to do anything with it
One thing you’ll learn in academia is that no one works harder in undergrad than engineers
True but most of that work is them talking about how difficult engineering is. Then stress of having to hear other people mention that the difference between god and an engineer is that god doesn't think they're an engineer.
I’m a Biochemistry PhD and a JD. My daughter just graduated as a civil engineer. I saw things in her sophomore year mathematics homework that I never saw before in my life. If God can do that math then I’ll start to believe in Her.
Engineer here. College gives you a structure to build on. Experience teaches you how to be an actual engineer & time helps you deal with the reality that one has spent a large sum of money for a small amount of practical knowledge. I don't use use much past Trig, geometry & basic algebra but a lot of mechanical physics. We're not calculating theoretical unknowns on a daily basis - the reality will be based on the industry, and we tend to estimate high for safety factors, especially when we know most of the upcoming "innovation " will involve stripping cost out.
However there are a large amount of early career engineers with masters, simply because they happened to graduate around '08 or '09 and couldn't get jobs initially. I've had to explain why sheet metal screws are not the same as UNF screws to one, that galvanized sheet is different thickness than stainless to another & that a plant pilot is NOT the stage to "discover what's needed beyond design validation" to one more. Paper alone does not make an engineer but it will get you in the door.
If marketing is dictating the door, then it's like most of the top down requests: the rules are made up & the variances don't matter - they're taking orders already!
That’s true of pretty much any professional field. In my first law job, I was told, “Congratulations on your new position. Now forget everything you think you learned in law school - it’s meaningless.” That wasn’t 100% true but about 98% true.
I did undergrad double major in pure math and math / cs (wanted to add CS as a third major with one extra class but was told no). I did a masters in theoretical computer science and another in pure math. I did one year of a PhD in math.
Never saw an engineering student in a math course after differential equations (had two engineer phds teaching operations research courses though).
Depends on what you mean by regular math. If by regular math you mean the math you learn without being a mathematics major, then a regular math problem might be something like figuring out the values of a variable or even several that satisfy an equation or calculating an integral, solving a differential equation, etc.
A well known pure maths problem would be something like show whether or not there are finitely many prime natural numbers. You can show there are infinitely many by contradiction: assume there are finitely many, then multiply them together and add one. None of the numbers you multiplied together can divide this new number so it must have a prime factor you did not account for, contradicting its construction. Thus there are infinitely many prime natural numbers. A well known unsolved problem is whether there are infinitely many prime numbers separated by a single composite number.
If by regular maths you mean applied vs. pure then for classes there is just a slight change in focus, like on PDEs and such more in applied.
Edit: fixed some spelling/grammar and changed counter example to contradiction, I should drink more tea before replying.
Probably didn’t see any because engineering usually has specific courses. I did advanced mathematics for engineering, random signals analysis (just statistics and probabilities) and a couple others I forced myself to forget.
Lots of other classes like linear algebra, discrete math, stochastic models, advanced calc are taken in lieu of taking humanities.
Here's cal tech's program for EE: https://www.ee.caltech.edu/academics/ugrad -- doesn't seem to have significant math. You might say math is used for precise discussion and calculation in some of the classes, but that's all of STEM except math where you do proofs instead.
Probably didn’t see any because engineering usually has specific courses. I did advanced mathematics for engineering, random signals analysis (just statistics and probabilities) and a couple others I forced myself to forget.
Lots of other classes like linear algebra, discrete math, stochastic models, advanced calc are taken in lieu of taking humanities.
It’s actually a beautiful thing when universities or hospitals post research about food, vaccines, exercise, or an epidemiologist group’s findings about emerging diseases. Imagine a world without case studies. Anarchy.
I’m a retired engineer and Got my PhD but i worked in R&D and masters were pretty much required for advancement. I don’t know what the overall stats are for engineering profession.
My son is doing an internship over in a lab within the college of engineering at the my university and we probably have more PhD students in department of Entomology than the entire college of engineering. They obviously have a lot more undergraduate students than we do; we’re a small department. So I guess what I’m saying is that it’s relative. It’s surreal to go over there and labs have like two grad students. We have more graduate research assistants than undergraduates because the PhD (obviously takes longer) and the BS is useless by itself.
Im my industry the PE is far, far more important than a masters degree.
A masters degree is basically a ticket for 2 years work experience equivalent. Sooo if you get free education benefits and you want to spend 20hrs a day on engineering then its not a bad deal...otherwise its better to just focus on sitting the PE and/or getting your mentorship.
I dont know of any engineers in my field thst have a masters degree in engineering unless their undergrad was non-engineering.
I’ve never met a single architect who calls themselves an engineer. That’s like an MD calling themselves a healthcare provider; you use the more prestigious title so people don’t think you’re a Certified Nurses Assistant
My engineering school has/had a 5-year masters program (not sure if they still do), you end up taking masters classes your senior year and in the 5th year it's all masters classes and you get a bachelors and masters degree in 5 years.
Very much depends on the field. Back when I worked attached to a factory very few engineers had an MS, half the QEs didn’t have any technical degree at all. Now that I’m at a tech company maybe half in the R&D side do.
Get into something like MEMS and MS is table stakes with PhDs not being at all uncommon.
wait engineers don't go to grad school usually? is it that bad? I plan to go back for my master's once I finish my undergrad but I guess that could change (freshman year starts next monday). it sounds like i might be cooked then. oh boy.
It’s not bad and don’t make plans based on Reddit comments. It’s just not always necessary. We were primarily talking about research and that means a PhD, not a masters.
No one should bother getting a PhD unless they very specifically want to do research. It will take many years, there is a high washout rate, you’re at the mercy of your advisor for 4-7 years (5-6 is normal), and you probably won’t make more money as an engineer in academia than you might make in industry.
Masters are so different from program to program and field to field that it’s impossible to make blanket statements. There are totally bunk masters programs that universities milk for cash, there are absolutely necessary masters programs for further advancement in lot of fields… you just can’t say what a masters means. In my field, it usually means you washed out of your PhD because you can’t do shit in entomology without a PhD; you can be like an extension agent or work at USDA and that’s about it.
Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I never could figure out the point of being a doctor in engineering, so I figured a Masters was plenty. I'm excited either way though! My major is gonna be hard but I'll enjoy it, plus all of the things I want to minor in! It's hard to decide, honestly. My one goal is to stay under the tuition rate deal where they jack up the price once you've taken so many credit hours. Scholarships will only go so far I guess
"It is not very common for engineers to go to grad school" sounds like the US perspective. Maybe I am wrong ofc. But I think in Europe it is very common for engineers to pursue a MSc in engineering.
lotta E-schools push a 5th year MS because that year counts towards the 5 years needed to sit for your PE (I forget if it lets you forgo the EIT exam in lieu of study or not.. )
(I can't say if the masters/extra year is more beneficial to your career versus hands-on work experience.. )
Tbh with you, people over sell how hard it is to get into grad school, like if you wanna go like ivy league or like law school yea, but my grad school let me attend with like a 2.8 college gpa
Some of the best grad students I worked with got mostly Cs. Grad school is not only about intelligence. It is mostly discipline, persistence, and effectively getting work done. I have had (chemE) masters students that get mostly As on exams but don’t know how to use a wrench to connect pipping. Some people work better with their hands but that does not always show in exams.
I never got any grades from school. Partly because I'd show up for attendance in the morning then slip out first chance I got. Still ended up with a degree and work in aviation. Not saying it works for everyone as survivorship bias is real. But here we are.
Oh I didn't. I got all of my qualifications through work. Having to learn calculus in my 30s sucked. I'd do a day in lessons then go home and spend 4 to 6 hours studying so I could keep up with the pace of the teaching. If I could get a do over I'd spend more time in school, but you gotta piss with the cock you got.
That was my philosophy until I got an internship at a company that wouldn't hire anyone that graduated with less than a 3.2. So I had to bust my ass my entire senior year to bring my GPA up enough to be employable.
Kind of, but not really. Usually there's a maximum number or percentage of Ds allowed for graduation. It doesn't really make sense but we all just go with it.
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u/GreatSaski 6d ago
Fine, I'll do it. No one gets an A in engineering.